She Says… Dear Santa

Last Christmas, Owen didn’t know what hit him. He caught on pretty quickly that inside all of those beautifully wrapped boxes was a present, but I really don’t think he had any sense of Santa or sleigh bells or why we had a tree in the freaking living room. I’m still not totally sure he’ll “get it” this year, but we’ll see.

He has started asking to read The Polar Express almost every night before bed. (I only read a few sentences on each page — that’s long for a 2 year old!). He actually identifies Santa in a red suit, but still doesn’t really know who that is. Still, he chatters on and on about trains and hot chocolate and elves and Santa.

On Sunday we went to our town’s tree lighting ceremony and kids were getting their pictures taken with Santa. When Owen caught a glimpse of him, he said (with no particular emotion), “What’s Santa doin’ up there? Why dose men standing up there too?”. I had to simultaneously act like it was no big deal (because we had walked there without my wallet, so no pictures with Santa for Owen this year!), while also trying to build up some of the Santa illusion. Not sure if Owen really understood it was supposed to be the same Santa as in The Polar Express or not, but I do know he was pissed he couldn’t get up in the gazebo and play like he usually does in our town center.

Thankfully he DID get to meet accost two other characters that he was totally enamored with. After the tree lighting he told everyone we met that he saw “A snowman, a bear, and Santa!” and all seemed equally exciting. He also got to slap some glue on a foam shape and cover it in glitter to hang on the town Christmas tree. He was SO PROUD to see his snowman hanging there when he was finished (and I was grateful for the diversion, aside from the fact that my stroller, which was parked downwind of this craft, is now covered in glitter).

Phew. Crisis averted.

How old was your kid when they first “got” the magic of Christmas (or another holiday you celebrate)? What did/do you do to plant the seed?

Raffi has starting pointing to the trees and saying WOWWWWW. He loves the lights and wants to touch and eat them all. I can’t wait to see how much more fun he is around the holidays next year! I think they understand the magic from a very young age – there is just something in the air and they can tell. :)

My daughter just turned 3 and she is TOTALLY into it this year. It’s really fun. She loves our Christmas tree and we talk about how Santa is coming on a daily basis. She knows many Christmas carols (after only hearing them a few times!) and loves to point out baby Jesus in our Christmas books. (We just had a new baby so she’s into babies.)

@RhodeyGirlTests, Thanks! Oh that is so cute about the lights. Owen loves them too. We were driving home from school yesterday and he shouted, “OH! I LOVE IT!”. He was looking at Christmas lights on someone’s bushes. It’s the little things!

I am completely surprised how much Cameron seems to know about Santa before me bringing him up. It HAS to be from day care and all the books they read there. He’s known for a while now that Santa is going to bring him presents at xmas because he’s a good little boy and he talks about it ALOT. And the other night he was telling me that “David was on the naughty list” when we were talking about Santa. I’m pretty sure it’s from the “David” books that they have at school. So I asked him what he would like Santa to bring him for xmas and he says, “Candy!” (Still amazed from Halloween I think! lol) So I said, well I’m sure Santa will bring you some candy for xmas, but is there any toy that you would like to ask Santa to bring? He says, “Trick or Treat!” lol I die.

He’s now updated this to the fact that he wants Santa to bring him more blocks because he runs out of mega blocks building towers. Done! lol